Gangsters in Blue

This post was shared via CopBlock.org’s ‘submit‘ tab by Jonathan Bernard.

On the day of my interaction with Mr. Rifenbark, a woman and a man came into my home. They forced their way in and assaulted me and my wife while my children watched in horror. The man and the woman were clearly on some sort of hard drug, like bath salts. Their eyes were dead and they had a blank look to them. They were also slobbering at the mouth.

One of them managed to knock my little girl into a table, causing her to hit her head. When they finally did stop and exit my home through the front door, I jumped at the chance to slam and lock the door shut at which point the man and the woman pounced on the door, beating, thrashing, and kicking it to the point where it was going to break. I threw all of my weight against it holding it until cops could get there.

I instructed my wife to call the cops while I held the door shut. I then instructed my wife on what she should tell the police. I told her to tell them that there are two people trying to kill us, and that they should hurry. First 15 minutes went by, then 30, and then an hour went by – meanwhile, the man and woman were still trying their best to find a way into my home.

I instructed my wife to call state police instead, in the hopes they would be more responsible and actually come. Another 30 minutes went by, then a state trooper and an Irvine local cop, Karl Rifenbark pulled in at the same time. The man and woman had already run off. Mr. Rifenbark came to my door, and I was glad to see him. I thought, “Thank god for help,” and up until that point I had believed Mr. Rifenbark was a good guy. Little did I know that I would soon learn differently.

Rifenbark proceeded to ask me just a couple of questions about who it was and what they had done, so I told him. He said to wait here a minute and he headed out to the man and woman’s house. 30 minutes or so went by, then he came back; his eyes were now red as fire and glossy, and he said, “They said you broke into their house and assaulted them.” My heart sank a little and I said they were lying.  I explained that I weigh 120 pounds, and that the man who assaulted me weighs at the least 260 pounds. Why on earth would I kick in his door and assault him? Does that make any sense?

He then asked whether I had somewhere I could go. I pointed out that this was my home. He stated that I would need to find  somewhere else to stay for a while. My mind was blown, and I turned to my wife and kids and said to get our things and go.

We piled everything in the trunk and loaded up the kids in the car. We closed the doors and we were ready to go. I heard 3 knocks on my window; it was officer Karl Rifenbark. He asked that I step out for a moment and I complied. I exited the vehicle, closed the door behind me, and what happened next was shocking. He proceeded to say, “Did you call me a pussy?” I replied, “What do you mean? I never said anything of the kind, why would I do that when I called for your help?”

He then stated, “Someone said you called me a pussy. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll take off my belt and my badge and whoop your ass all over this yard.” Again my heart sank. There stood an officer of the law making threats on my life for a reason unknown while my daughters and wife stood by in the car not knowing that this officer was about to assault me.

Suddenly I had a moment of clarity. I thought, “if I respond wrong, he is going to beat me half to death in front of my children, same as the meth addict tried to do only an hour before he went over there and came back with red eyes… oh my god, this officer took the same drugs and as a result also became violent.” After having this thought, I just came out and said, “I swear on my life and cross my heart, man, I never called you no pussy or nothing of the sort.”

Mr Rifenbark then said, “Well, I don’t give a damn about your heart if I beat your ass and then take your ass to jail, understand?” I shook my head “yes,” at a complete loss. He then instructed me to get back in my vehicle and leave my own home, “or else,” he said. The unknown state trooper was standing there the whole time, laughing and smiling about what was said to me. A threat was made on my life and the trooper did nothing but enjoy it.

At the time, I had no license at all, but that didn’t matter to them; they instructed me to drive anyway and so I did. I drove so fast it scared me, as I was afraid that those two goons would catch back up to me and assault me in front of my wife and children after all. So, in the end we ended up going to Richmond to stay with someone for a while. On the way down there, a Richmond ‘Madison County’ cop pulled me over and said I was speeding 6 miles an hour over the speed limit. He went to his car, came back and said, “Okay, there is a warrant out for your arrest in Irvine, KY, but something does not look right about this warrant.” He continued, “I know this warrant is wrong and invalid, but the law says I have to arrest you anyway.” So, he did. I was released the next morning and told sorry. Sorry? Really? After some investigating and putting two and two together, I figured out that Mr Rifenbark somehow issued some sort of fake warrant for my arrest for which I did spend a night in jail. My little girls cried hard that night when I had to get into that cop car after all of that. After watching that man and woman assault their mommy and daddy, after watching the mean cop mistreat daddy, now here is another cop taking daddy away.

As a result, I don’t sleep anymore, I don’t eat well, and I have little or no trust of authorities or people. I don’t like public places anymore and I don’t like to drive. I feel like if I ever needed help again, I could never call the police out of fear that they too might bring harm to me or my family. So, when one needs help where does one turn?

Irvine, KY Cop Karl Rifenbark Threatened My Life is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

This article, submitted by Helen Alexis, was written by Adam May who works for WJZ Tv in Baltimore, Maryland.

BALTIMORE — Another Baltimore City police officer has been accused of breaking the law. This time, it’s a sexual assault. The allegation is the latest in a string of misconduct cases.

Adam May investigates the severity of the problem.

Over the last few years, dozens of Baltimore City police officers have been convicted of misconduct or corruption and it has put Baltimore on a bad list.

Baltimore City police officer Elliot Simon was accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old while on duty.

“I made it clear to the commissioner that if we had bad actors in the police department, that we need to get rid of them,” said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

The mayor expressed outrage first to WJZ at a neighborhood revitalization event. The allegations follow the high-profile conviction of another officer for running a heroin ring and a towing scheme that sent more than a dozen officers to prison.

A nonprofit think tank has been analyzing police corruption the last few years and they discovered Baltimore is one of the worst. The Cato Institute ranks Baltimore 15th in the nation with more than 46 incidents of police wrongdoing in 2010, the last year analyzed.

“I don’t trust them at all,” said one resident.

WJZ heard a range of complaints from many residents who live in the Northwestern District, home to many recent police issues.

“A lot of times they ask for our help and people don’t feel comfortable helping,” the resident said.

Those opinions are a challenge for the new commissioner.

“I have no tolerance for misconduct or officers that violate the public trust,” said Police Commissioner Anthony Batts.

An FBI report says police departments should fight corruption with strong ethics policies and leadership, better hiring practices and punishment for offending officers.

The State’s Attorney’s Office is still reviewing the allegations against Simon. For now, he’s suspended without pay.

Simon is a 14-year veteran of the police force.

Police Misconduct and Corruption in Baltimore City is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

The following was originally posted by Carlos Miller at Photography is Not a Crime.

To this cop’s credit, he didn’t have a problem being video recorded.

In fact, he took pride in it, sticking his face in the camera and spouting his name and badge number to ensure the citizen had captured him ramming his knee into the head of a 17-year-old boy who was already under control by another officer.

“You got it on tape”? Arnold! 654!”

But if he acts this way on camera, you can only imagine how he acts off camera.

“Blink wrong,” he kept telling the teen in custody.

Meanwhile, the other more passive cop walked over to the citizen with the camera and told him to put it down.

Texas Cop Takes Pride in Kneeing Teen in Head on Video is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

• “If you see something, say something” backfires on NYPD.
• Another isolated incident, with nudity.
• Every 3-D movie is the same.
• New York Times columnist  blames the Aurora shootings on Warner Brothers.
• Headline of the day.
• Suicide bombers of the insect world.
• Doctors in Dominican Republic refuse to treat pregnant teenager for cancer, due to fear of prosecution under a strict abortion ban.
• The London Olympics 2012 Total Perspective Vortex.
• Man bets friends he can set his own face on fire, and wins.
• Cops beat and pepper-spray paraplegic for videorecording them.
• Cop has 20 years of on-duty sex, plus overtime, then retires early at 42 with 7 years of health benefits.
• I’m glad none of my famous clients were ever this sort of famous.
• My column from Tuesday:  Paging George Orwell!  A prison for underage hookers in Texas is named “Freedom Place”.

(Thanks to Radley for the first two, and to Mike Siegel,  FilmRot Dave, Grace, Teller and Wendy Lyon for the next five.)

• “Zombies take over city.”
• John Burge’s fondness for torture has cost Chicago taxpayers $33 million so far, with $7 million more on the way.
• One of those things that make me glad I don’t have television.
• Here’s a really good piece on gun control from Harper’s,  and an even better one from Mike Riggs.
• And if you prefer more practical arguments on the subject, here’s a good one for women who are married to sociopathic perverts.
• Puppycide, complete with a swaggering excuse from the sheriff.
• Government Wins Right to Pretend That Cables Released by WikiLeaks Are Still Secret.  Meanwhile, Congress wants to use the Wikileaks precedent to prosecute mainstream journalists as well.
• Cop tried to trade theft victim’s stolen property for sex.
• If you had plans for the next 20 billion years, you should probably speed up your timetable a bit.
• My column from one year ago today:  How the myth of “rape culture” was constructed, or, how to turn 2.5% into “one in four”.

(Thanks to Jack Shafer for the first item, Radley for the next three, Furry Girl for the fifth, and Agitatortot Robert Chambers for the sixth.)

The Los Angeles Times:  ”Angry Anaheim Crowd Threw Bottles at Police, Set Fires on Streets”

Reason:  ”Anaheim Cops Shoot Rubber Bullets, Unleash Dog on Crowd Protesting Police Shooting”

One would scarcely know they were talking about the same thing.  Here’s the video:

Oh, and by the way:  Four people [said] that police offered to buy their cell phone video of the incident.

UPDATE:  Cops yelled at crowd for three minutes while their victim, Manuel Diaz, was bleeding to death.

(Posted by Maggie; thanks to Radley for links & title and Dave Krueger for the video.)

• Headline of the day.
• Six policies economists love and politicians hate.
• Today’s edition of “Never call the cops for any reason whatsoever”.
• Holy conflict of interest, Batman!
• Washington judge rules it’s legal for cops to impersonate the owner of a seized cell phone in order to entrap people in the contact list.
• Two men detained for smuggling dangerous contraband candy across Canadian border.
• The Brady Campaign’s response to the Aurora, Colorado murders:  guns are bad.
• “A plea deal was struck because of concerns about whether a jury would be able to agree that a prostitute had been raped.”
• Once a month, I publish a short-short story (often fantasy or science fiction, but not always) in which one of the main characters is a whore of one sort or another.  These are not erotica; few even mention sex, and in those that do (such as this month’s) it’s both demurely-described and over in a sentence or two.  I suspect most Agitator readers might prefer the one from last July; if you enjoy both of those and would like to see more, here are all 25 which have appeared so far.

(Thanks to Radley for the first three items, Jesse Walker for the fourth and Agitatortot David for the fifth.)

• There’s a vast dust cloud in the center of the Milky Way galaxy that smells like raspberries and rum.
• For a welcome change:  a puppycide averted.
• Another isolated incident.  Make that two.
• Double your pleasure, double your fun/Headline and subhead of the day in one.
• A brief catalog of slang terms of the types of clients who might visit an English brothel in 1795.
•  The dumbest argument for censorship you’ll read today.
• The legislation whose penalties may end up killing more U.S. jobs than all the call centers in India combined.
• Georgia cops deactivate man’s Tourette’s Syndrome control device, then beat him for the resulting tics and verbal outbursts.
• Is that a biological threat in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?
• Thor discovers text messaging.
• My column from Monday:  Why “sex trafficking” suddenly became a subject of concern for Mexican politicians within the past year.

(Thanks to Radley for the first four items and Jesse Walker for the fifth.)

I wish it wasn’t  the case that there are so many stories involving police abusing their positions. If we compile enough evidence, eventually there will be no place left for any of them to hide, having broken all the laws themselves we will be forced to change the methods of the police force in this country. I don’t know how long that will take to accomplish but I will keep reporting stories like this every single day until that reform does come about. 

-Ethan I. Solomon

-From the New York Post

An NYPD cop was busted last night on charges of breaking into his colleagues’ lockers in their station house and stealing guns that were sold on the street, The Post has learned.

Alleged gun-trafficking officer Nicholas Mina, 31, boosted four 9mm firearms from the seventh-floor locker room at the Ninth Precinct in the East Village, a law-enforcement source said yesterday.

Mina — a six-year veteran who worked midnight patrol tours — was assigned to guard the lockers as part of a 24-hour security detail created by department brass after the embarrassing thefts began in February.

“This is the lowest crime — to steal from your fellow cops. Somebody you work with, you dress with, you change with,” said a retired cop who knows Mina. “To rob a gun that could be used against a fellow cop someday. There’s nothing lower.”

It’s suspected that Mina brazenly sneaked one of the guns out of the tightly watched locker room on April 22, sources said. After that caper, a sergeant was assigned to guard duty and the heists stopped.

Police officials also installed a security camera to monitor the locker-room entrance, and added a second lock to each locker.

Along with the guns, bulletproof vests, cash and an iPad were lifted.

Mina allegedly sold the weapons to buyers unaware that he was a cop.

After the NYPD Firearms Suppression Unit got a tip about illegal gun sales, it joined the Internal Affairs Bureau and the Manhattan DA to launch a probe.

Mina was arrested yesterday, as were his alleged civilian cohorts — identified by sources as Ivan Chavez, 24; Meryl Lebowitz, 64, and Jennifer Sultan, 38. It’s not clear what roles the civilians — who are not NYPD employees — played.

All four were charged with offenses including criminal sale of a firearm.

Last night, IAB investigators descended on the station house and kicked all cops out of the locker room. It had been long suspected the gun thefts were an inside job.

Drug-using NYPD Officer arrested as ringleader of group stealing and selling fellow Officers guns is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights

• Ron Jeremy and the Barbi Twins hunt Canadian porn-actor cannibal.
• 10 things most Americans don’t know about America. (via Jesse Walker)
• So, will Nancy Grace get the same treatment as Dharun Ravi?
• What makes this news isn’t that he did it, but that he’s being prosecuted for it.

 Corrections

I’m very glad to hear that yesterday’s “destroy the pyramids” story turned out to be a hoax; however, I’m sad that similar recent actions by radical Islamists in Timbuktu and Afghanistan actually made it believable.  Also, thanks to those who pointed out (in respect to yesterday’s clam video) that what I (and obviously, the person who labeled it) took as a nonhuman creature tasting a substance was actually something entirely different.  It just goes to show how we all unconsciously project our own experiences and mental constructs onto phenomena with which we’re unfamiliar; sex workers have to deal with the same thing, as I explained in this early column about how outsiders perceive just about every non-customer male in a hooker’s life as a “pimp” (with all that entails).  You might also appreciate this column in which I answer the burning question “How are pimps like chupacabras?”, and this entirely clam-free video of “What a Wonderful World” performed in 16 different Western musical genres: